Reflections of a Black Woman Professor: Racism and Sexism in Academia

Abstract

This essay examines the interdependence of racism and sexism in academe. To frame the discussion, the theory of articulation coupled with hegemony was used. The narrative examples cited in this essay illustrate a White supremacist hegemonic structure supported in academia. The essay explicates and illuminates issues of marginalization in academia because it increases awareness about interlocking systems of domination in academia at the microlevel, and, in doing so, exposes important meanings of marginalization at the macrolevel. Further, salient intersections between discourse and hegemony are critically analyzed because the role communicative interactions play in articulating the experiences of marginality become primary.

Keywords:

• articulation
• borders
• hegemony
• marginalization
• racism
• sexism
• White supremacy

Notes

I thank the editor, Dr. Jill Bystydzienski, and Samuel Patton for their helpful comments.

¹ Black is used as an encompassing term to include both Africans and African Americans. This term is particularly important because not all Black Americans claim African ancestry.

²According to Frye (2001), “one of the most ubiquitous features of the world as experienced by oppressed people is the double bind—situations in which options are reduced to a very few and all of them expose one to penalty, censure, or deprivation” (p. 49). In this article, the double bind specifically refers to women who are also ethnic minorities. Because of this double marginality, “ethnic minority women are often put into a bind, particularly within discussions of race and gender because of an either/or mentality that is produced—does a woman fight against sexism or racism? Is it possible to fight against both successfully? Often one issue is prioritized over the other.”(Patton, 2004, p. 86).

³All names in this article have been changed.